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Lower School

Chapin’s Lower School serves our children through six years of dramatic growth. A typical day might find our very youngest students tossing a bean bag at a floor outline to determine a letter sequence in a "Mystery Word," while our fourth graders might be nose deep into a novel that takes them to the height of the Andes Mountains in Peru. Everywhere in between one finds children actively engaged in the learning process.

It's easy to find a common purpose among all the classrooms: creating a lifelong love of learning in children and developing . Another common thread is the integration of Chapin’s Character Development Program into all facets of a child’s day. Respect, responsibility, honesty, kindness and perseverance are experienced every single day.

Our goal is to keep children moving along their own paths to further learning. Keeping the whole child in mind, our program includes special areas like technology, world languages (Mandarin and Spanish), art, music, library and physical education. Our teachers combine the science, the art, and the "heart" of teaching to create stimulating learning environments to successfully meet goals for all of our students.

The Margaret A Wilby School for Early Learning invites children to expand their curiosity and to create wonder at the world around them. We provide children with the strategies to reach their highest potential in a safe, nurturing environment.

Kindergarten at Chapin follows the natural curiosities of children at this age to form the basis for inquiry and study throughout the year. With field trips to the Aquarium and Hamilton’s Grounds for Sculpture, children use the world around them to construct meaning and apply emergent skills.

A farm unit integrates math and social studies, as children design their own farms with acreage divided for designated uses. "Fencing" provides an opportunity to understand the notion of perimeter, and "purchasing" multiple animals for the farm (each with a designated price) introduces the concept of multiplication while applying computational skills. A trip to Howell Farm culminates the unit.

Hard work balanced with fun is the hallmark of second grade. This is achieved by creating cross-curricular units of study, engaging students in activities that are highly meaningful and providing a learning environment that allows students a variety of opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding.

Chapin’s fourth grade year is one marked by ever increasing individual responsibility, as students manage their own homework duties and take on greater time management skills with several long-term assignments.